PICTURES FOR TEACHING WRITING

This research aims at finding out whether and how picture can improve  students‟ writing skill. This research uses the design of Action Research and was conducted in two cycles. The data are collected through observation, test, and interview. The research results show that the benefits of pictures i.e. focusing students attention, stimulate and provides ideas, and lessen anxiety help students to improve their writing in terms of content and, organization, and help teacher to work on students grammar and vocabulary, and mechanics (punctuation and spelling). These findings, however; are not to neglect the consideration on how and the execution of how pictures are used in the classroom activities by both teacher and students. As a media, pictures do need careful handling in selecting and using. Appropiate teaching method is also a key element for the success of the research.Keywords: pictures, class situation, guided writin

THE MATERIAL COMPATIBILITY AND COMMUNICATIVE EXERCISES IN ENGLISH TEXTBOOK “PROGRESS”

This research investigates the degree of compatibilty of the language skills materials in “Progress” with the indicators required by School based Curriculum and to see whether or not the exercises are communicative. In collecting the data, the researcher uses document analysis. The result of the analysis shows that the percentage of the appropriateness of the skillsdeveloped in the textbook “Progress” is 59.22% (listening: 62.85%; speaking: 59.38%; reading: 47.06%; writing: 63.16%). It means that the textbook is compatible with the School-based Curriculum in developing English skills. In addition, the data also reveals that 62.5% of the exercises are communicative. The two findings indicate that this book is good.Keywords: content analysis, Communicative Exercise

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ WRITING ABILITY ON NARRATIVE TEXT USING VIDEO

The objectives of the research are: (1) to identify whether and to what extent the use of videos can improve the students’ ability in writing Narrative text; and (2) to describe what happens to the class climate when videos are implemented in the writing class. The research is carried out at SMA Negeri 1 Ngemplak. It was conducted from September 2011 up to May 2012. The subject of the research is the students of class XI IA 1 of SMA Negeri 1 Ngemplak in the academic year of 2011/2012. In collecting and analyzing the data, the researcher used two kinds of data; qualitative data and quantitative data. The research findings show that the use of videos can improve students’ writing ability and class climate. It can be seen from their interest and motivation for English class, and writing mean score of pre-test 66.05 increased to 71.41 in post-test 1, and 75.05 in post-test 2. The last mean score is higher than KKM which is 72.00. Finally, it can be concluded that the use of videos can improve the students’ writing ability in narrative text and the class climate.Keywords: writing ability, narrative text, video

THE USE OF ENGLISH IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ACTIVITIES IN A DESIGNED INTERNATIONAL STANDARDIZED ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

This study describes the use of English in one of designed international standardized elementary schools, SD Negeri Jaten 3 Karanganyar. The method used in the research is naturalistic inquiry. The data are taken from events, informants and documents by using interviews, bservations and document analyses. They are, then analyzed by using interactive model of analysis involving collecting the data, reducing the data, presenting the data and drawing conclusion. Verifying data and presenting data from the research, a conclusion can be drawn that using English as instructional language in SD Negeri Jaten 3 Karanganyar is not an easy task to do. Although the school has qualified-English teachers, it is not a guarantee that the use of English as instructional language in teaching and learning activities can run well. Besides benefits from the use of English, the school also faces some challenges.Keywords: Naturalistic Inquiry Study, RSBI, the Use of Englis

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY USING FLASH CARDS

This paper discusses about improving students’ vocabulary mastery using flash cards. The aims of the paper are: (1) to find out whether and to what extent the use of flash cards can improve students' vocabulary and (2) to describe the strengths and the weaknesses of using flash cards to teach vocabulary. The writer conducted a classroom action research from February to June at the second grade of SDN Bulakan 02, Sukoharjo in  the  academic  year 2011/2012.  This research was conducted in two cycles and  carried  out  in  four  steps namely; planning  the  action,  implementation/action, observation, and reflection.  The data of the research were collected by using qualitative and quantitative data collection echniques.  The result of the research shows that the use of Flash cards can improve the students’  vocabulary mastery. It can be seen from the mean score of the test which improve from 56.5 in the pre test to 77.1 in the post test one and 83.7 in the post test two. Using flash cards could make the students pay attention to the lesson properly. It also improved students’ participation in learning vocabulary.  They  were  not  shy  anymore  and    highly  motivated  to join  the  teaching and learning process

ENHANCING STUDENTS’ MOTIVATION ON LEARNING ENGLISH THROUGH STUDENT TEAMS-ACHIEVEMENT DIVISIONS METHOD

The objectives of the research are to identify whether and to what extent STAD method can improve students’ learning English motivation, and to describe strength and weakness of implementing STAD in this research. The research method used in this research is a classroom action research. In collecting the data, the researcher used questionnaire, observation, interview and tests. The researcher conducted the tests and questionnaires before research (pre-test) and after implementing the method (post-test 1 and 2). The mean score of each test and questionnaire were compared to know the students improvements in motivation and reading skill. The research finding showed that the motivation of students improved in every cycle. The improvement of students’ motivation can be seen from the improvement of mean score of questionnaire (60. 72) before action, in cycle 1 62.03, and cycle 2 63.03. Besides, the reading skill of the students alsoimproved. The improvement can be seen from the improvement of mean score of pre-test (59.75), post test of cycle 1 69.25, and post test of cycle 2 74.38. The researcher also found strength and weakness of this method

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ READING SKILL BY USING LEARNING CELL

This research is aimed at finding out whether learning cell can improve students’ reading skill and how learning cell can improve class situation at the second grade of SMA N 6 Surakarta. The method used in this research is a class action research. The action research was conducted in two cycles, in which in the first cycle there were 4 meetings and in the second cycle there were 4 meetings including post test. Every cycle consisted of five steps: planning the action, implementing the action, observing and monitoring the action, reflecting the observation, and revising the plan. In collecting data, the researcher used qualitative data which were collected by using observation, interview, questionnaires, and quantitative data by using test. The qualitative data wereanalyzed using Interactive Model of Data Analysis as propounded by Miles and Huberman. The results of the research shows that Learning Cell Technique is able to improve the students’ reading skill. It is proven by the increase of the students’ mean score from 6.44 in pre-test to 7.15 in cycle 1, and 7.87 in cycle 2. Furthermore, the class situation also improved. The class became more enjoyable and fun

OPTIMIZING THE APPLICATION OF MACROMEDIA FLASH IN CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING TO ENHANCE STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL OF RECOUNT TEXT

This research aims at: 1) identifying whether the optimalization of MF in CTL can enhance students’ writing skill of recount text, and 2) describing the classroom climate when MF in CTL is applied in writing class of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Colomadu Karanganyar. This research was conducted in two cycles from March 16th to June 6th 2012. The research data were collected by using observation, questionnaire, interviews, field notes, photographs, and tests. The qualitative data were analyzed through assembling the data, coding, comparing, building interpretations, and reporting the outcomes. In the pre-test, the students’ mean score was (66.70), the mean score of post-test 1 was (69.78), while in post-test 2 the mean score was (79.83). The students’ enhancements in classroom climate were: 1) The students were more active during the writing class; 2) They more participated in asking and answering teacher’s questions.    This research aims at: 1) identifying whether the optimalization of MF in CTL can enhance students’ writing skill of recount text, and 2) describing the classroom climate when MF in CTL is applied in writing class of the eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 3 Colomadu Karanganyar. This research was conducted in two cycles from March 16th to June 6th 2012. The research data were collected by using observation, questionnaire, interviews, field notes, photographs, and tests. The qualitative data were analyzed through assembling the data, coding, comparing, building interpretations, and reporting the outcomes. In the pre-test, the students’ mean score was (66.70), the mean score of post-test 1 was (69.78), while in post-test 2 the mean score was (79.83). The students’ enhancements in classroom climate were: 1) The students were more active during the writing class; 2) They more participated in asking and answering teacher’s questions. Keywords: writing, macromedia flash, contextual teaching and learning

IMPROVING STUDENT’S READING COMPREHENSION THROUGH QUESTION-ANSWER RELATIONSHIPS

The article aims to discuss whether Question-Answer Relationships can improve the students’ reading comprehension. The objectives of the prior research are: 1) Improving student’s reading comprehension and to know the extent of the improvement of student’s reading comprehension through Question Answer Relationships. 2) Describingthe situation when Question-Answer Relationships is applied in reading class. The research was a classroom action carried out in SMP Negeri 8 Surakarta. The subject of the research is the eighth grade students. The research finding shows that the students who were taught Question-Answer Relationships can improve their reading comprehension. It can be seen in the result of their reading from preliminary observation up to cycle 2. There is improvement in each cycle. Therefore, Question-Answer Relationships can be used as alternative strategy to improve students’ reading comprehension. Question-Answer Relationships also makes the class situation became effective during teaching and learning process

IMPROVING STUDENTS’ VOCABULARY MASTERY THROUGH BINGO GAMES TO ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

This article describes a classroom action research held in English classthrough the implementation of Bingo games to improve the third grade students’vocabulary mastery and students’ motivation. This research was conducted in twocycles. Each cycle included four stages: planning, implementing, observing, andreflecting. The data that were obtained qualitatively and quantitatively show thatbingo games could improve: (1) the students’ ability in memorizing the meaningof words;(2) the students’ ability in pronouncing the words correctly;(3) thestudents’ ability in spelling the words correctly; (4)the students’ ability inidentifying proper word use; (5) students’ motivation